May 5, 2009
A Blue Bouquet on Twilt Tuesday
A while back I made a quilt called “A Blue Bouquet for Barbara Jean”. It was a quilt I made in memory of my mother who passed away when I was very young. This little Twilt, “Blue Bouquet”, uses the same 3D flower block but has only six petals where the blocks in the larger quilt each had eight petals. I added hot stick Crystals in the light flower print inset and in the center of the 3D flower as well as a bead and embroidery.
The fabrics are several different blue batiks except for the inset fabric. I love blue and white quilts and I think I am not alone. 
The inspiration for the Twilt, “A Blue Bouquet for Barbara Jean”.
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May 4, 2009
Back From My Travels
The last two weekends have been busy for me April 25 and 26 I was at the Seven Sisters Quilt Show in San Luis Obispo, California. I have family up there so I was able to see family as well as enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new ones.
Patricia Corley had a quilt in the show, “Butterflies”, that she made in a Machine Stitched Cathedral Stars class that I taught a few years ago and you know how I love to see student work. 
This last weekend May 1 and 2 I was at the Inland Empire Quilt Show in Norco, California. There were a lot of wonderful quilts in the show and another student’s work, Jeanie Stellrecht’s “Cathedral Star”. Jeanie was in a Cathedral Window Stars Table Runner class I taught at The Fabric Patch.
Vending at quilt shows is quite a bit of work but I always enjoy visiting with quilters, vendors and friends!
April 17, 2009
Memories and Merlot for Blogger’s Quilt Festival 2009
Amy at Park City Girl came up with this fabulous idea to do a Blogger’s Quilt Festival. I read about it and wholeheartedly decided, I’m in!
“Memories & Merlot”, 56″ x 64″, is a variation of my Cathedral Window Technique. The center features single 3D squares I filled in the edges of the center and the border with 3D triangles and felt that really gave the quilt it’s Cathedral Window feel. 
The quilt was stitched in a grid and the bias folds of the 3D squares and triangles were rolled and stitched at the quilting stage. It took me a while to finish, being one of those projects that I would set aside when other more pressing projects came along. Life got in the way as well, three moves in two years. Lots of memories of those times. The fabrics are all yummy batiks, different prints in the same color ranges and it does gradiate lighter in the center to darker at the outer edges. It took me ages to come up with a name. The Redish colors always made me think of wine and I do like my wine…..oops, did I say that out loud? Shiraz is my favorite but a good Merlot is very acceptable.
Click on the pictures and it will take you to high resolution ones on Flickr. Maximize the browser and you will get a larger picture.
April 10, 2009
Belated Congrats to Ria
Last year Ria D’ Inca of Ventura made this quilt from my pattern Parchment & Black Lacquer and it won a First Place ribbon at the 2008 Ventura County fair. What a great job Ria did!
If you see a quilt from one of my designs or make one of your own, I would love to post them here on my Blog. Thanks to Phyllis Curlee for finding this quilt and sending me the pictures.
April 7, 2009
Twilt Tuesday: That Old Fashioned Feeling
Cathedral Window Quilts are supposed to be my specialty so I thought it appropriate to do a Cathedral Window Twilt. It uses the same quilted finish as Layers of Lavender and really did only take a day to complete.
The subtle fabrics I found really give this piece “That Old Fashioned Feeling”.
April 2, 2009
Butterflies Table Runner
I just finished photographing this table runner for a class I am teaching at The Fabric Patch and thought I would share it here. It’s based on my pattern Butterflies but a better size for a class.
It uses the rolled bias folds of 3D Triangles to form the curves. Tuesdays Twilt uses the same basic block but much smaller.
March 31, 2009
I’d Rather be Twilting
"Flutter By"
The embroidered Butterfly was in my collection as a sample so I finished the embroidery and made it into a tiny little Twilt. So, I have a Twilt on a Twilt. Buttons are used to hold it in place. I added some Butterflies from my Button and Bead collection. The curves that form the Butterfly’s wings are 3D triangles with rolled bias folds.
What a nice way to continue to welcome Spring. Don’t you think?
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March 30, 2009
Fun Times and Some Good Stuff
Just back from Glendale and my workshop in Riverside. The ladies of Raincross Quilt Guild asked me to do a Lotus Lullaby workshop. We had lots of fun and everyone finished piecing their block.
It was a big success and I plan to offer the Lotus Lullaby workshop actively in the future. I had to skip Saturday at the Glendale show to do this workshop.
The Glendale Quilt Show was wonderful and well attended and I used my free time to scout out some new embellishments for my Twilts. Didn’t I find some yummy stuff? Remember, tomorrow is Twilt Tuesday.
March 26, 2009
A Cathedral Window Quilt in Process
It’s another beautiful day here. I am off to help The Quilt Attic set up for the Glendale Quilt Show. I will also be squeezing a Workshop in at a local guild. If you happen to be at the show please come by and say Hi!
It might seem like I am only working on Twilts these days and that might be partially true, they are addicting. This is a Cathedral Window Quilt that has already been pieced. My assistant, Myke, is holding it down while I baste the top to the batt and back. The next stage will be a grid and the final stage will be the rolling of the bias folds that form all the curves.
Unlike the traditional method used to make Cathedral Window quilts, in my method the entire top is pieced before any folds are rolled. I will be finishing this quilt in the same manner as the Layers of Lavender Workshop sample.March 24, 2009
A Twilt for Good Luck
I finished up this piece this morning and as I sit here writing this a pair of Redtail Hawks are doing their spring mating dance outside over the trees. It is a beautiful day.
I have quite a collection of fabrics, Asian designs and Batiks are my favorites but I love all kinds of fabric in general. Within the collection of Asian fabrics I have a number of prints that are miniature in scale and have wanted a project to use them in. This twilt uses 36 different squares of these prints for the foundation squares.
“Best Wishes for Good Fortune” uses a 3″ copy of the block from my pattern Fortune Cookie. Each block uses a black square and four smaller Asian print squares. They are sewn together like a 3D bowtie block creating a black square on point with four bias folded edges. A checked square is laid on top of the black 3D square and the folds are rolled over the raw edges and stitched.
If you haven’t tried a Twilt yet I invite you to give it a try. I have found the process a very productive way to generate creativity. Check out Jessica’s latest Twilt, Ring of Fire. For more Twilt info check out Twitter Quilts….Twilts.
Snips and Bits from Shelley's Studio 